The tires of our 4x4s pounded along the dirt track, dust billowed into the air and encircled the rugged desert mountains all around us. I stepped on the gas as we sped around corners, trying to soak it all in. We were headed out to spend 4 days in West Potok (a district of Kenya), where we were to build a school in a remote village which had been steeped in witchcraft for many years. All of us were filled with excitement and anticipation as we bounced along the road.
Our trip really started the day before as we loaded the vehicles with food, water, exta fuel, and camping gear. We would be roughing it; cooking and sleeping outside. Our departure day started with alarm clocks going off at 5 am and4x4s rumbling out of Kitale at heading out at 7:00am. For most of the morning, the trip was relatively uneventfully as we wound our way through the mountains on a little dirt road. However, nearing noon, as I was driving behind one of the pickups, I noticed something really didn't look right... all the trucks ground to a halt. Upon inspection, we found that the back axle of our Toyota had slipped on the leaf springs and moved in such a way so that it was totally out of alignment. Tools, jacks and spare parts were unloaded from all the vehicles and we set to work.
At first, it really didn't look promising but eventually we started to make headway. Dirt covered and dripping in sweat, we finally got the bolts loose so we could move the axle. We discovered that we were missing a leaf spring (a slightly crucial piece of the vehicle!), and that is why the axle had moved. Because of this missing piece, it was impossible to be able to tighten up the leaf spring unit in order to prevent the entire back axle from slipping. So, with true ingenuity, we found a panga (a large African knife) under the seat of one of the truck and decided that if used in combination with a wrench (or "spanner" in British vernacular), it would give us enough thread to tighten things up. ( I might add that the Canadian and the South African proved most useful when it came to this little job). With this truly creative fix, we were finally back on the road... though we were now aware that we were lacking a leaf spring and thus had to baby the repair job along.
We arrived as the sun was high in the sky and burning hot!! Brett (our South African friend who'd organized the trip,) had been invited by the chief to speak at the local church. We knew that it would be different and expected it to be primitive, but it still came with a bit of a shock. The church was meeting under a roof made up of a few branches tied together to create some shade and the pews were simply sticks held up by other sticks. Despite the fact that the setting was unlike any church we'd seen before, we could all feel the presence of God in that place. We started to worship with them and everyone was really excited. In that place, we prayed for our brothers and sisters to be filled with the Holy Spirit and it was cool to see the Spirit fall on them and fill them. We also got to see a mama and few others get healed. We couldn't help but grin when one of the mamas got healed and started dancing and smiling. It was wonderful to see. There was something about the entire time we spent at the church which felt very significant and it was amazing to see their raw and beautiful faith.
Two hours later, r we were almost at our destination just as the sun was setting. The last 12 km into the village was hard going. River beds cut through the desert "roads" were deep and had created big ruts which trucks with bigger tires did fine with, but our van got stuck in one of these river beds. Being a guy, I couldn't help but feel an odd sense of excitement as I watch the van sink in the sand. Somehow seeing it stuck made it more real to me that we were going into an unreached land... that we were living an adventure. I couldn't help but smile, knowing that this was going to be an exciting trip. The men piled out of the van and after some digging had it pushed out. We didn't get far and the truck with the missing leaf spring broke down again. Because it was getting late and the sun was going down, we decided to take the two other vehicles and go and set up camp and leave a team to repair the truck and follow after.
Camp went up quickly and soon there was a crowd of people gather to see all the mzungus setting up their tents. It was a big deal for us to be there... and we could feel the excitement in the air. After camp was set up, I drove back to check on the repair crew. By the time I got there, they had it almost back together. After measuring and guessing at where the axle should sit, we tightened things up and headed back to camp with the sun setting behind us and lighting up a breathtaking landscape.
We sat and ate dinner in the dark and talked about the climb the next day. The chief had invited us to climb up on a sacred mountain. The plan was to get up very early and climb the mountain in the morning, pray from the top, and break curses off the land. After a planning session, we watched the village elders kill a goat in honor of the team being there. A man saw us there and then ran and got a goat saying.."I never thought i would see white people here!" (Though Brett our South African friend had been there with teams before, the large group of mzungus seemed to create such a stir.)
Even after getting up very early, we still didn't manage to leave until later. When we finally hit the trail at 7am, the sun already felt very warm and continued to increase as we climbed through the morning. The ascent was tough but prayer at the top was really powerful, and it was also the fulfillment of a dream that the chief had had after a 40 day fast. We could feel the significance of what we were doing as we stood at the top of the mountain praying with the chief for his people, his land, and breaking off the power of the witchcraft and demonic sacrifice that had been done in that place.
When we got off the mountain, the team was wiped out as it had been a long hike, but we decided to start some of the construction. The guys dug deep and began working on chipping out the latrine until dusk. Most of them had blistered hands and were really tired, but spirits were high because the team kept on encouraging each other. That same day, we had a number of people come to us wanting medical aid. We did everything we could for them, but had limited supplies and medication. Some of them who we treated had severe ear infections. They reported to us the next day that they were better, which is almost impossible but after observing them, I found that the infections were totally gone! A number of men came forward for medication because they had injured their backs. I told them to get prayer first and 5 out of the 7 got healed. We knew that they were actually healed because they kept on smiling and jumping around. After that, the entire team was pretty excited. Totally exhausted, we went to bed.
Again, the next morning, we got up early at 5 am to start a day of construction. If I'm honest, it was a struggle to pull myself out of bed but after a strong cup of coffee, the day looked a little better. The sun was soon up and we began the all-day fight against the heat. First we started with digging the holes for the posts which were approximately 3 feet wide and 3 feet deep. Because the ground was so hard, rocky and dry, this task alone was slightly epic with some of the holes taking most of the day. We had a team of three guys working on it steadily all day with bars on these holes, and another team working on the latrine much of the day. By around 5 o'clock, our "poop hole" boys were down six feet through a lot of hard ground and rock and all the holes were finally dug. At this point, we shifted the entire team into putting the structure up. We stood the frames up before dinner and got ready to pour cement. We had to pump water by hand from a well at the bottom of the village and fill a tank with buckets for making the cement. After dinner, we were finally ready to pour the cement. It took until 10:30 at night to finish, but we managed to get all the cement poured so we could put the roof on in the morning.
The next day was another early start as we had to pack down camp and finish the structure. Pack down went well and we had the vehicle packed and ready for a 11:30 departure however finishing the roof proved to take longer. We had a team of guys work on the roof while another team did a small medical treatment station and prayer. It was hot and the people kept on coming. After an hour i couldn't tell how many people we had treated or how many were left to be treated cause the line stayed the same size. At the end we started to work rapidly to try and finish off. One of the first little girls we treated was a girl that had a seed stuck deep in her ear. Her parents had tried to get it out but had only pushed it deeper. Even with people holding her down and using the light of the sun we couldn't get it out which we discouraging but we pressed on and teated everyone we could those we couldn't treat we prayed for. Charlie was a hero and keep praying full of energy and passion despite the heat and being physically spent from the trip.
With some relief we rolled out of the village and headed home. We continued on with the theme of adventure as we were late leaving and were aware of a danger of being on the road at dark and also still had to nurse a damaged vehicle. Finally we made it to "civilization" in Makutaung and to be honest, never had cold Cokes and chapattis tasted to good. Sun burnt, blistered, smelly and tired we rolled into Kitale nearing dusk. Despite some physical aches and pains, we definitely fell into our beds that night with a strong sense of having been Jesus' hands and feet. And really, there cannot be anything better.
Thank you so much for all your support and prayers.
Soul Edge Boys Team 2010.
